Modern Types of Software Testing: All You Need to Know
Software testing is defined as a process or method of finding and fixing faults in a software application. The testing process ensures that the software meets the specified product requirements. Another advantage of software testing is the ability to release quality products by detecting failures in the software. This article lists the most common types of software testing, and looks into the reasons why software testing is important.
The Importance of Software Testing
Software testing is critical because we all make mistakes. Skipping this procedure may affect your product’s quality as well as the reputation of your business. To better understand the importance of software testing, let’s have a look at the effects of software quality.
Product Quality
Following product quality requirements is important in order to ensure the product works properly and has a great customer experience. This is why testing is implemented throughout all stages of mobile app development. For example, validating graphics to testing the main functionality and device compatibility. Developers should invest a lot of effort and time to fix bugs before a product is released to the market.
Security
Security is the most vulnerable and sensitive part of software testing. Our personal and financial information and what we do with it should stay as private as possible. This is why users look for trusted products that they can rely on.
Cost
Software testing costs much less if issues are resolved before bigger problems appear. That is why testers should fix bugs as early as possible in the process. The maintenance costs will also be lower if the product works seamlessly and meets the user needs.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer trust is the ultimate goal for any product owner. Well tested software should bring the best user experience possible.
Software Testing Types
Testing is a fundamental component of any software development project. Choosing a software testing type depends on elements like budget, project requirements, timeline, suitability, and expertise. Software testing is usually classified into two main categories, non-functional testing and functional testing.
Functional Testing
Functional Testing verifies that each functional aspects of the software follows the required specifications, with a dual focus on automated as well as manual testing.
Unit testing
Unit tests are used for testing of the smallest module or component that you can logically isolate in a code. The objective of a unit test is to check that each component of the software functions as expected. Knowledge of programming is necessary to perform this kind of testing. This is why only developers can do unit testing.
Integration testing
Integration testing is a software testing technique used to test individual units of code as a group when they are integrated together. The goal of this kind of testing is to uncover issues in the interaction between combined units. There are several approaches to integration testing. One such approach is a top down testing. This approach tests the top-level units first and then the lower level units are tested one by one. It is usually followed by the top-down development approach.
Regression testing
Regression tests verify that new code changes do not impact the current functionality of the software. The objective of this test is to catch bugs in the new release or build, and to ensure that previously resolved issues continue to stay dead.
Smoke testing
Smoke testing is generally performed on initial software builds to make sure that the essential functionalities of the software are working seamlessly. If testers find a major critical functionality failure at the initial stage, they can reject the build and inform the development team.
User Acceptance Testing
User acceptance testing (UAT), also known as application or end-user testing, is the last step in the software testing process. In this type of test, actual users test the software to validate that it can handle real-world scenarios. UAT must occur before the new software is released into the market.
Non-Functional Testing
Non-functional tests are applied to non-functional features of a software, such as reliability, performance, security, and usability. Non-functional tests are executed after functional tests.
Non-functional tests can greatly improve software quality. This kind of test checks how well the software performs, rather than whether the software works or not. Non-functional tests are usually automated and executed using specific tools.
Performance testing
Performance testing is a general name for tests that check how the system performs and behaves under workloads. Different kinds of performance tests such as load testing, stress testing and endurance testing, provide information on stability, responsiveness, reliability, scalability and resource usage of software applications.
Reliability testing
Reliability testing ensures that the product can perform a failure-free operation in a specific environment as well as in a specific period of time. This testing technique measures the total product reliability, by measuring it against business requirements.
Security testing
Security testing uncovers all possible vulnerabilities of a software system or application that might result in a loss of information. There are four main focus areas in security testing, client-side, server-side, network and system security testing. Most security tests are complex and involve an out-of-the-box thinking. But, sometimes, simple tests like checking whether the login process is secure can help expose the most severe security risks.
Usability testing
Usability testing checks if your software application is user-friendly. The main focus of this test is to determine if the software product is easy to learn, easy to operate and attractive to the users under specified conditions. Usability testing is recommended during the initial phase of design, which gives more visibility to user expectations.
Conclusion
Besides testing, measuring the effectiveness of the tests is also important. Test coverage measures the effectiveness of your tests. For example in JavaScript projects, you can use the Istanbul tool to measure test coverage.
While this article provides a review of several popular software testing types, you do not need to perform all of these tests for one project. The required tests will depend on the type of software you are developing and other factors. Assess your project in advance, and choose the relevant tools.
